


Rabbits and Butterflies

by rosemaryandamaranth



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Rabbits (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Conspiracy, F/F, Missing Persons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:00:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29319771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosemaryandamaranth/pseuds/rosemaryandamaranth
Summary: Max wakes up one morning and realises Kate is missing. Not only that, Max is the only person who remembers Kate even existed. Apart from Victoria. Together, they must piece together exactly what has happened to Kate and figure out how to get her back.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Victoria Chase
Kudos: 5





	Rabbits and Butterflies

The days since Chloe’s funeral passed in a blur.

Max felt like a passenger in her own body, going through the motions of returning to a normal life. As if that was possible. As if she didn’t see her face every time her eyes closed. Her morning routine consisted of turning on her phone, checking for a message from her dead best friend, and sobbing into the pillow until she physically couldn’t any more.

The only ray of light cutting through to her was her friendship with Kate. Kind, sweet, lovely Kate.

She’d been at the wake, comforting Chloe’s grieving parents, comforting Max, comforting most anyone who needed a shoulder to cry on. There were quite a few of those on that day. Kate’s perspective on life-and-death was slightly different to Max’s. Which was, of course, understandable. Kate didn’t have the ability to rewind time.

But even if she didn’t fully believe herself, hearing Kate talk about what came next took some of the weight out of Max’s soul. The days got easier, and turned into weeks, then months. Slowly. Ever so slowly.

“Max, what do you think about having a movie night tomorrow?” Kate’s voice snapped her out of her reverie. They were heading back to their dorms at Blackwell having caught the last of the light walking on the seafront. A pasttime that she’d only just started again, thanks to Kate.

“Well that beats what I had planned!” Max smiled back at her, flexing muscles that had atrophied in the recent weeks. “How about you choose the movie and I’ll get the food? I’ve got a bowl-of-nachos shaped hole in me that needs filling.”

Kate beamed. Either at the nachos or having the movie pick. Maybe both.

“Then it’s set. I’ll try not to pick a period drama this time, but I won’t make a promise I can’t keep.”

They stopped outside Kate’s room, and she pulled Max in for a tight hug as they said goodbye.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, movie buddy! Sleep well, Max.” The door clicked shut as Max turned to face the entrance to her own room.

This was the worst part of the day. It was easier being outside, distracted by other people or weather or goings on. In that room it was just her and her own thoughts. Her mind would replay the sounds of that day over and over. The gunshot, and the screams. Chloe had given her a choice, up on that cliff - her or Arcadia Bay. Max chose the bay, and condemned Chloe to die. And she was never, ever going to forget it.

She locked her door as if in a trance and flopped face-down onto her bed, fully clothed. For the first time in a long while, sleep came hard and fast.

* * *

Max woke up.

Heart pounding, sweat running down her back, her instincts screaming that something was wrong. She pushed her finger into her palm a few times - a trick Chloe taught her to check if she was dreaming. Learning to lucid dream was something Chloe was obsessed with trying one summer after reading about it online, to no success. That trick stuck with Max though.

Poke, poke. Finger tip met fleshy palm. Not a dream.

The room was quiet, but no quieter than normal. It was dark, but no darker than normal.

She got up, quickly changed into her pyjamas from her sweaty outdoor clothes, and drank some water before getting into bed properly. Must’ve been laying down funny, or something, everything is fine she told herself. Sleep, again, came quickly.

Outside her window, the grey figure slowly moved away and vanished into the night.

* * *

The grating chirp-chirp-chirp of Max’s alarm clock roused her gracelessly from sleep. She slapped the awful thing into submission and earned a few more minutes rest for her victory.

Bleary-eyed, Max grabbed her phone and checked her messages - 10:17, but no “Good morning!” message from Kate. That was odd. She could set her watch to Kate’s punctuality, not that a watch ever did Max any good.

Something’s not right. She decided to go and knock for the girl directly, and slumped out of bed into the corridor. To her surprise, Kate’s door was wide open and sunlight was streaming through into the hallway. Kate had swapped with another girl for an east-facing room in the first week because she was an early riser and liked to get up with the sun.

The hairs on the back of her arms stood up as she walked down the corridor towards the open door. Something’s not right. Something’s not right. A chill ran down her spine when she saw what was inside.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. An empty set of shelves, a bed with no sheet or covers, no boxes or cases or anything that would indicate someone had been in this room just 12 hours before. It looked exactly like her own room had on the day she arrived at Blackwell. _What the fuck is going on?_

“Hey, Dana!” Max noticed the other girl heading out of her own room and shouted down the hallway, trying to keep the panicked tremors from her voice.

“Where’s Kate?” Dana turned around and confusion furrowed her brow.

“Who?”


End file.
